The purpose of this study was to test the effects of racial microaggressions on minority status stress and perceived academic and career barriers, as moderated by social support among African American college students. It was hypothesized that social support would significantly moderate the effect of microaggressions on perceived academic and career barriers and minority status stress, such that higher levels of social support would be related to lower levels of perceived barriers and minority student stress. Participants were recruited from a mid-size Midwestern university from Introductory Psychology 102 courses, university-based student organizations, and the Africana Studies Department. Experiences with microaggressions were assessed using Nadal’s Racial and Ethnic Microaggression Scale (REMS; Nadal, 2011), perception of academic and career barriers were measured using the Perception of Barriers Scale (POBS; Luzzo & McWhirter, 2001), social support was measured using the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL; Cohen & Hoberman, 1983), and minority status stress was measured using the Minority Student Stress Scale (MSS; Smedley, Myers, & Harrell, 1993). A demographics questionnaire was administered as well. A moderated multiple-regression analysis was conducted to test the study hypotheses. Our study hypotheses that perceived social support would moderate the relationship between microaggressions and minority status stress and perceptions of barriers was not supported. However, main effects were found for microaggressions and social support on minority status stress, as well as main effects for social support on perceptions of barriers. Future research and implications are discussed.

Amidst our ableist social world, there are people with disabilities who are living the lives they want to be living and are, so-to-speak, “doing their own thing.” This project focuses on what a few young adult women attribute as having helped them get to where they are today. There were two overarching open-ended research questions guided this project: (1) what opportunities and experiences have influenced the four women with physical and mobility disabilities in terms of getting to where they are today? And (2) how have these opportunities and experiences helped and/or challenged them along their journeys? The study analyzes responses from semistructured interviews with four young women with physical disabilities. Participants’ responses suggest that growing up in supportive environments (family, friends, other people with disabilities) that foster a sense of disability pride helped participants adopt similar perspectives on disability. I argue that participants learned to understand disability as a valued form of social diversity in large part from their parents and from experiences that allowed them to interact with other young people with disabilities. Additionally, strategic positivity and persistence are two ways that help participants cope with the day-to-day ableism and anti-disability microaggressions that they experience.

The sample (N=118) was mostly Lesbian (85.6%, n=101) with a mean age of 60.81 years (min=50, max=86, SD=7). Most (55.1%, n=65) lived with a partner, including 25.4% (n=30) being married. The education mean (=category 4.37, min=1, max=6, SD=1.123) was between Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, 48.3% were employed full-time (n=57), 26.3% (n=31) retired, and the annual household income was $50,000 – $99,999 (mean=5.13; SD=1.392). They reported good health (mean=4.04; min=1, max=6, SD=0.789) with an overweight Body Mass Index (BMI mean=32.77; min=17.97, max=57.32, SD=8.03). Quality ratings showed: healthcare received was closest to very good (mean= 4.68; min=1, max=6, SD=1.205); care received from primary care provider was between very good and excellent (mean=4.54; min=1, max=6, SD=1.174); providers’ sensitivity/cultural competence for sexual orientation was closest to very good (mean=4.70; min=1, max=6, SD=1.182); providers’ sensitivity/cultural competence for race was between good to very good (mean=4.57; min=1, max=6, SD=1.178); and providers’ openness to hearing about/accepting sexual orientation was closest to very open (mean=3.77; min=1, max=5, SD=0.937). The majority (71.2% (n=84) experienced discrimination in the healthcare system—for being Black (64.4%, n=76), a woman (48.4%, n=57), overweight/obese (31.4%, n=54), or appearance (29.7%, n=35).Findings for performing 9 behaviors for healthy aging showed: 1-stages of change mean=4.283 (min=1.44, max=5, SD=0.663) was closest to action stage; 2-self-efficacy mean=5.171 (min=3, max=6, SD=0.703) was 80% confident; 3-knowledge mean = 5.811 (min=3.22, max=7, SD=0.916) was closest to a high level of knowledge; and, 4-motivation mean=5.57 (min=3.44, max=7, SD=0.935) was between moderate and high. They had moderately high: satisfaction with life (SWLS-3 mean=5.223, min=1.33, max=7, SD=1.272); overall life satisfaction (LSS-1, mean=7.50, min=2, max=10, SD=1.834); and harmony in life (mean=5.407; min=2, max=7, SD=1.184). Backwards stepwise regression, controlling for social desirability, indicated higher Satisfaction with Life (SWLS-3) was significantly predicted by: Higher harmony in life (B=0.714, p=0.000); Higher annual household income (B=0.155, p=0.004); Higher provider sensitivity/cultural competence to their patient being Black (B=0.208, p=0.002)—with 62.4% of variance explained (R2=0.615, adjusted R2=0.624; F=25.483, p=.000) by the model. Qualitative data amplified findings.

There is a need for professional development for teachers that equips them for working with diverse students and creating supportive school climates. This pilot study (N=55) with K-12 teachers sought to identify predictors of a high school climate rating. The teachers were 78.2% (N=43) female, 81.8% U.S. born (N=45), 45.5% White (N=25), 30.9% Black (N=17), 14.5% Latinx (N=8), and 7.3% Asian (N=3). The teachers had moderately high knowledge and closest to moderately high self-efficacy for performing key behaviors deemed essential for working effectively with diverse students. Teachers reported experiencing (pre-pandemic) a school climate closest to moderately supporting, engaging, valuing, fairly disciplining, affirming, reflecting empathy for, and serving as a safe space for students from varied cultural backgrounds. Findings showed that about half the teachers or more had any experience of microaggressions that seemed related to their personal demographics or appearance while in school settings—pre-pandemic. Further, about three-quarters of teachers or more had any experience of witnessing microaggressions happening to students in school settings, pre-pandemic.

This study focused on the types of messages female middle school students receive about their gender from their peers. Specifically, it looked at microaggressions, which are sexist messages from peers, and microaffirmations, which are positive and affirming messages from peers. There were four goals of this study. First, to check if the Students Affirming Girls in Middle School scale (SAG-MS), a scale created for this study, could consistently measure microaggressions and microaffirmations. Second, to look at the relationship between when girls experience puberty and microaggressions and microaffirmations. Third, to measure any differences in the number of microaggressions and microaffirmations girls receive from boys versus other girls. And fourth, to determine if microaffirmations can protect girls’ engagement in school from the negative effects of microaggressions. The participants of this study were 121 female middle or junior high school students who were recruited through Qualtrics, a research sampling service, to complete online surveys. Results of the study showed that the SAG-MS has an acceptable level of internal consistency, meaning that participants responded to items on the scale in a similar manner. Results also showed that when girls experience puberty does not have a significant relationship with how many microaggressions they receive or how many microaffirmations they receive. Middle school girls were also found to receive more microaggressions from boys than other girls and more microaffirmations from other girls than boys. Finally, results showed that girls’ engagement in school went down when they experienced more microaggressions, but if girls’ received many microaffirmations this drop did not occur. These findings suggest that microaggressions are occurring in middle school and that they can lead to decreases in girls’ engagement in school. However, microaffirmations given by peers have the potential to protect middle school girls from experiencing this drop in engagement.

Microaggressions are a form of interpersonal discrimination towards marginalized groups that are often ambiguous in nature and delivered unintentionally. The subtleness of these attacks on identity can make them difficult to recognize and address. Emerging research reveals that the targets of microaggressions are experiencing negative effects on their wellbeing; however, the bulk of existing literature on this topic only addresses microaggressions perpetrated towards racial minority or LGBT individuals. Little is known about pervasiveness and potential impact of microaggressions directed towards people with disabilities- particularly in academic contexts. This study pilots a measurement tool, the Microaggressions Towards Students with a Disability Questionnaire (MTSDQ), to assist in assessing the frequency with which university students with disabilities are encountering microaggressions in their classroom settings. The negative impact of these events on students’ sense of belonging and willingness to participate in their classrooms is also addressed.

ABSTRACT Effects of Racism and Discrimination on Personality Development among African American Male Repeat Offenders Tiffany Nicole Lockett Throughout history in the United States, the African American community has consistently been the victim of social policies put in place to disenfranchise this population (Mauer & Chesney-Lind, 2002; Painter, 2007; Parham, White & Ajamu, 1999). With a longstanding presence of systemic racism and discrimination, the criminal justice system and the dominant culture continues to pathologize this minority group and advocate for increased penalties which further stigmatize African Americans, particularly males in this group (Reiman, 1996; Russell, 1998). Though most criminology research focuses on higher rates of criminal offending within the African American population as the result of the intersection of race, poverty, education, and employment (Russell, 1996), few studies take into account the potential effects that regular exposure to racial discrimination may have on this population. Even fewer take into account how one's experience with racism and discrimination may impact personality development. The purpose of the study is to investigate a proposed causal link between racism and discrimination on criminal recidivism, using personality as an indirect variable to support this potential relationship. To do so, the study focuses on the criminal offending of an African American male population within a county probation system to explore how one's experience with racism and discrimination leads to the development of certain personality traits which then impact their criminal recidivism. As there is a significant dearth in the literature about the effects of racism and discrimination on this population, this study will provide a unique area of research on a population that has often fallen victim to deficit models in the field. After exploring the traditional research about the unique experiences of the African American community as a whole , this study aims to provide another perspective as to why this population is disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system by accounting for the potential impact of individual experiences of racism and discrimination of African American males. A number of hypotheses have been generated to account for the interaction between racism, personality, and recidivism within the African American male offending population. It was hypothesized that self-reported experiences with racism and discrimination would lead to lower scored traits of warmth, self-control, and rule-consciousness and subsequently lead to higher rates of repeat offending; conversely, experiences with racism and discrimination would also lead to higher scored traits of dominance and vigilance which then would lead to higher rates of repeat offending. A path analysis will be conducted to elucidate potential links between these variables. Structural equation models found partial support for the hypotheses. Implications and future directions in this study are discussed. Keywords: African American, racism, discrimination, microaggressions, recidivism, personality

The existing literature on racial microaggressions has been vital in illuminating how these phenomena may be experienced within marginalized groups (e.g., Wong et al., 2014), including Black communities (e.g., Soloranzo et al., 2000; Sue, Nadal et al., 2008). However, the literature in the area of intraracial microaggressions (IRMs) among African Americans, or racial microaggression incidents where both the receiver and offender are Black, is scarce. As such, the current study explored the phenomena of Black-on-Black racial microaggressions. The principal investigator utilized Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR; Hill et al., 1997) to explore the phenomena of IRMs. The current study aspired to answer research questions that addressed how IRMs may appear in the African American community, how frequent IRMs are experienced, their influence on psychological/emotional wellness and coping behaviors, the function of the perpetrator’s ethnicity, and variations between inter- and intraracial microaggression experiences. The results suggested that, typically, IRMs are experienced in which one’s Blackness is challenged, the perpetrator’s ethnicity is African American/Black American, and the offender’s ethnicity is perceived as having affected the microaggressive incidents. Moreover, the current data indicate that African Americans usually have negative reactions to IRMs, and IRMs have frequently had an impact on the daily lives of individuals. The current findings support the continual enrichment of training, practice, and research by furthering knowledge in a developing area of knowledge and multicultural competence.

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The history of Harlem as an epicenter of Black Culture can be traced to the late 1800s, with initial African American migrants to Harlem who were solidly middle and upper class. These migrants made the neighborhood their home, establishing businesses and investing in the community, but after the economic downturn of the 1970s and the rise in social problems, many fled. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, cities across the United States, including New York, experienced a resurgence. This resurgence in New York City did not exclude Harlem. Using multiple techniques: observation; informal, semi-structured, individual, and group interviews; spot observations; autoethnography; and archival research. This eleven-year study documents the lives of the Black Elite Who Chose to Stay in Harlem, reviewing the rationale behind their staying. Some factors included a sense of belonging, fleeing microaggressions, leveraging class status to confront macroaggressions, and maximizing the economic opportunity of moving to a prime undervalued asset. Engaging anthropology, Women’s studies, Black studies, and American studies, this study defines elites through the use of case studies and responses from the participants.